Paris (AFP)

"It can't go on any longer": very affected by the epidemic, professionals in retirement homes and home help for the elderly expect the State to respond quickly to the crisis, in particular via the massive investments that they have been claiming for years.

Just before the outbreak of the epidemic, workers in the sector were still mobilized to remind the government of the "urgency" to start work on the law on old age, several times postponed, which was then promised for " before summer".

Before this crisis, they had already denounced for at least two years a glaring lack of means and manpower, leading, according to them, to very difficult working conditions and a form of "institutional mistreatment" towards the elderly.

Since then, the coronavirus has been there, placing the establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) in the heart of the storm: about half of the approximately 27,000 victims of the virus identified to date in France resided in retirement homes.

And still this assessment does not take into account elderly people with loss of autonomy who died at home as a result of the Covid-19. According to Dr Jean-Paul Zerbib, head of the sector at CFE-CGC, 8 to 10,000 additional deaths, mostly elderly, are to be deplored at home.

"What was glaringly lacking during this crisis, at home as well as in establishments, is the staff", denounces Jacqueline Fiorentino, of the CFDT. "To this was added an incredible lack of equipment" of protection, adds this union member.

Due to the lack of sufficient staff, some establishments have not been able to quarantine employees likely to be infected or whose spouse was, deplored this week during a press conference several unions in the sector.

Associations of geriatricians also pointed out that "the lack of nursing staff in nursing homes" was "responsible for the contamination of residents". These understaffings increase "the risk of cross transmissions, because it is impossible for a nursing assistant to apply the barrier measures perfectly when she has more than 10 toilets to make per day", they underlined in a joint press release.

- Change model -

According to these medical specialists, it is the whole model of the sector which must be reviewed, the Ehpad having become "small hospitals which do not say their name, but without the human resources and the logistical means of the hospitals".

For LREM MP Monique Iborra, who has just co-authored a report on the subject in the National Assembly, this gap between retirement homes and hospitals is indeed one of the sources of the difficulties in the sector.

"It is absolutely essential that each Ehpad employs a full-time salaried doctor, which is not the case today", points out the parliamentarian, who pleads for an "acceleration of the calendar", in order to achieve a "real reform which tackles the dysfunctions, mostly structural, observed during the epidemic. "

Because "to put in force without changing the model and governance, it will be insufficient", warns the deputy, who hopes to lead to a "consensual law" between majority and opposition.

On the government side, we assure that "the impact of the epidemic on the Ehpad has only reinforced the determination" of Minister Olivier Véran to prepare an "ambitious bill".

The Minister of Solidarity and Health "is working hard to ensure that the issue of funding is resolved in the very short term," his cabinet told AFP.

At AD-PA, an association of directors of retirement homes, however, we say "want jobs now, without waiting for the big law".

This law should help to "refound an ethics of helping the elderly", but meanwhile the government must release by the summer "5 to 6 billion euros" for massive hiring and a renovation plan, then "12 billion in full year", insists Pascal Champvert, the director of AD-PA.

"We have the feeling that the public authorities are still procrastinating," sighs Dr. Zerbib, from CFE-CGC, who often works in nursing homes. "They must realize the gravity of the situation. We must act quickly and hard!".

© 2020 AFP